Legendary musician Tommy Hayes has assembled a formidable troupe of Irish musicians for his latest project, The Garden where the Praties Grow, a documentary that intertwines the cultural significance and history of potatoes or "praties" in Ireland.
Ahead of its World Premiere, Tommy introduces the film below - watch a preview above.
I have been involved with the Irish Seedsavers Association since its inception in 1991. Through my involvement I have become aware of the very real dangers that are a threat to our food supply from a number of factors, including but not limited to climate change, loss of biodiversity and in particular the loss of agricultural biodiversity - which is a topic rarely mentioned, despite the fact that over 70% of our seed diversity has disappeared in the past 100 years.
As a musician I am very interested in the link between music and food, and I explored that in my first film Apples in Winter back in 2009. The impetus to do a further film on the potato in Ireland came about with the receipt of an Arts Council grant in 2024.
Fergal Scahill, Michelle Mulcahy, Anthony Hughes, Colm O Donnell and Pat Quinn
Over the following year I researched the music of potatoes in the Irish Traditional Music Archive in Merrion Square, Dublin. What was very interesting in was the amount of modern traditional based compositions that have the potato as their inspiration. I spent time deciding which pieces to include, and came out with a list of 17 pieces to fit the narrative, designed to fit the year from planting to harvest with music to suit each section.
My hope for this project is that it will introduce people and especially younger people to the very rich musical tradition associated with the food we eat.
Obviously, the Famine had to be a part of the story as it is so deeply imbedded in the history of the potato in Ireland, and in the history of biodiversity and monoculture. Two songs were chosen to depict the famine narrative: The Praties They Grow Small Over Here is one of the few documented songs that was written during the Famine, and Declan O Rourke's extraordinary Poor Boy's Shoes was also included.
With this film music is the primary focus, interspersed with interviews from a variety of people including growers, environmentalists, scientists, potato breeders, historians and a chef . Initially I had thought to go for a scientific approach with the interviews, but as time went on my focus changed to interviewing people who were passionate about the subject to hand.
We shot the music sections of the film over three days at the original Irish Seedsavers building in Scariff, Co. Clare. Due to the size constraints of the building and the fact we were filming all the music live, we made the decision to film the music in as open a way as possible, with minimal close ups. As recording time was limited, our wonderful group of musicians had to learn a lot of new music in a short space of time.
My hope for this project is that it will introduce people and especially younger people to the very rich musical tradition associated with the food we eat, while making audiences aware of the history, tradition and diversity of all the produce that appears on our tables.
The premiere of The Garden Where The Praties Grow takes place on July 1st, hosted by the Blas Summer School at the Irish World Academy UL - further screenings will follow at Glór in Ennis on July 15th and at the Shorelines Arts Festival on Sept 13th.
